August 2, 2025 • 30 mins
Guest Calvin Zaire is bringing back Altadena via phone. Wednesday Addams takes over Wendy’s and Subway transforms a Southern California restaurant into a ‘Happy Gilmore’ dream world. A study shows that California's $20 minimum wage hike has cost the state 18,000 jobs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You're listening to kfi EM six
forty the four Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
How do you Do? Heard every Saturday from two to
five and every Monday through Friday six am to nine am.
Hanging out with Handle the Voice of Reason, trying to
keep that boat from tipping over. But it's it's a
(00:22):
job I'm willing to do for you. But we get
to celebrate food every Saturday for three hours and then
we hand things off to my friend Tiffany Hobbs, who's
also going to be joining us at our live remote
next week from a week from today that we'll be
telling you more about coming up later, so stick around
(00:43):
for that, all right. The fires in January, we're six
months out and a lot, sadly has not been done.
Too much still needs to be done, and businesses are struggling.
People are struggling. No matter what you hear out of
any Poul Petitician's mouth or anybody saying otherwise, there is
(01:04):
a lot to be done. And the best part of
a real community like Altadena is that they come together.
And in this particular case, we have someone here, Zayer Calvin,
who is with us. He's the owner of Extreme with
an ex athletics community leader, you know, advocate for a
rebuilding for justice in the Altadena area. They refer to
(01:27):
him as Coach Z and he is the unofficial Altadena
mayor zaire. Welcome to the Fork Report. Do we have
him with us?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Do you hear me clearly? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
There you go? There you go, yes, I can. Thanks
for joining us today. Now, not only did and correct
me if I'm wrong here, not only did you lose
your home, but did you lose a family member as well?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes? I lost my first there.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I can't even imagine. I mean, with all with it,
let's just say it how it is. There was a
lot of issues that it could be. It sucks to
look backwards on this could have prevented you know this,
and so you know, life and death happens. We all
(02:36):
know that. Some of the first lessons we learn is
that you know, our time is limited. But man, when
you look back on something like this, and I know
you do and are like, you know, it's got to
be frustrating. And is I'm assuming that's the fuel that
pushes you forward on what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You hear it, I don't know, you know, it's all
it pain a purpose or pain the power at this point,
and you're just fighting for for your whole community and
everybody to have a chance to come back and have
some type of normalcy.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You know. I was taught many years ago that when
people experience intense pain that they either go to the
hero or villain state. They either become a villain and
say I want everybody to feel the pain that I felt,
or they go the hero route and say I don't
(03:39):
want anybody to feel the pain that I felt. And
I'm proud to hear when someone like you, Zaia takes
it upon themselves to be a leader in your area. So,
in the Altadena area, what are you doing, what are
you working towards? How can listeners help or participate in
(04:02):
in what you're doing as well?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, I was able to put together a plan with
the community, and when I say, I speak for the
community and the thousands in Altadena, we're able to put
together a plan out in the native rebuild where we're
able to build back together is the plan and to
be able to fool our resources so we can lower
(04:27):
cost and avoid the predatory things that are going to
happen with construction that's coming up, because that's the next
stage that people aren't talking about, is how predatory construction is.
And I've met with everyone from the Woesy Fire, the
Coffee fire, the Lahaina fires, and different and all the
other fires that I did not mention. I think all
(04:48):
the people who who've been sitting down and teaching through
this whole six months to give me a crash course
on what to do with the good thing that came
out of their experiences and then the bad things where
they weren't able to rebuild, and for us to have
a different plan of action with leadership and with a
(05:13):
voice that is pushing that leadership.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Talking with us right now. As my guest Yer Calvin,
referred to as Coach Z also known as the unofficial
Altadena Mayor. He's a community leader, coach trying to get
things done in Altadena. You know, there's a you know
something called writer's block, and of course artists block, and
that's when you're staring at a either a blank canvas
(05:40):
or a blank page and trying to, you know, put
things together for the first time. I can't imagine in
a place where you had lives, mature lives, generational lives.
And then it's now a blank canvas. What as someone
who lost their not openly their home, but your sister,
(06:03):
that canvas isn't blank, it's got years on it. But
where where do you even start? Was there someone that
came around and said these are the first things you
need to do? Or have you become that person?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Honestly, I think I've become that person because a lot
of this is unpresident. So the first call to action
was addressed in the African American community who's always disproportionately
taken advantage of through tragedies and through mishats. So the
(06:38):
first call to action was for their voice to be heard,
our voice to be heard as African American community, to
know that they get marginalized and we get taken advantage of.
That was the first step was to put that called
action so we would be seen. Then the next step
was for the whole community, because I love my whole community.
(07:03):
My Jewish neighbor is Asian, every single race, Hispanic, it's
my whole community and we're all family. So the next
call to action was just to make sure that the
whole community as a whole gets all the resources and
is being seen through this whole tragedy. Also because there's
(07:25):
so much loss, and anybody who hasn't been through a fire,
they don't know the pain. Like right now, Christmas and
Thanksgiving and all these holidays are coming up, what you're
going to be the most painful time because you lost
the security of your home. I've experienced death before, even
my brother being murdered. This type of chain and being
(07:50):
being disconnected to where you usually heal. Your home is
where you heal. It's where you go to to rejuvenate,
to recleinish to do, to go through pain. Home is
where you go to to mourn. Now all these places
are gone. And even with the safe spaces that you
(08:12):
had to leave to your neighbors and to your friends,
and to your cousin's house that we're in the neighborhood,
they're all gone. So it is a different type of
pain that I try to get the world to understand
of a hard working, bootstrapping collective people who are doctors, lawyers,
(08:33):
and every other type of people who have worked really
hard and don't want to lose this generational wealth for
the Black community and don't want to lose the community
for the overall community of a black community that includes
all races.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
That's the voice of Zaier Calvin you're hearing. He is
a community leader who's advocating for the justice and rebuilding
in Alta Dina right now. They refer to them a
love Lee as coach Z as well. When we come back,
we'll talk about, you know, the next steps there because
not everything was lost for everybody, which doesn't really isn't
(09:14):
really a comfort because you've got a community still limping along,
the small mom and pop shops, the restaurants, these types
of things. We'll talk more about that when we return.
So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We basically celebrate food every Saturday for three hours here
on KFI two to five and celebrate the people that
make it, the culture behind it. You know, it's community
driven when you think that we are the ones that
go out and support you know, mom and pop places.
I've said this many times on the program. One of
(09:52):
the reasons why we started the show over well over
a decade ago was to remind you that the economy
locally rises and falls on hospitality, I'm going out to
eat and supporting local businesses. It just does and that
that's part of what we talk about. And we had
(10:13):
some devastation, to say the very least in January with
the fires that took place in Altadena and in the Palisades.
And right now we're talking with Zaier Calvin. He's the
owner of Extreme Athletics with an ex Extreme Athletics. He's
a community leader, advocate for justice and rebuilding in Altadena.
(10:37):
They refer to him as Coach Z. Before we got
some news there, Zaire, we were talking about the community there,
whether it's you know, systemic racism, whether it is you know,
voices not being heard because they don't you know, minority
(10:58):
voice is not getting this same attention. Whatever it might be,
it is where we are unfortunately, and to make sure
that there is a voice. This is one of the
reasons why you're with us today. The message you want
to get out is that there's a lot to be done.
It sounds like there isn't one single place outside of
(11:20):
people like you getting people focused. I mean, you think
there was like a kit or something where local you know,
politicians come and say, okay, this is first steps because
part of Altadena is still standing, but it's a ghost
(11:42):
town in the other sense, and people can't you know,
all those regulars at restaurants, at mom and pop places,
at grocery stores, they're not there anymore. And the people
that are there are like, well, things aren't the same yet.
So what could we the people surrounding you in other
(12:02):
neighborhoods do, How do we help? What do you need
from us?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yes, supporting the local restaurants that have gone through all
of this devastation, there was the biggest one who supported
the whole community through this whole time period would be Farroksburger.
They literally and their story, which is very interesting, is
(12:28):
because the owners of Farroksburger actually live on My Street
and they did this through their heart and passion while
they lost everything. Also, so they it's not like they
weren't in the community. They actually live on my Street.
They lost everything, and through this they showed their pain
(12:52):
and power and was given back to the whole community
during this whole time and staying open since their business
you know, survived and they were literally donating their time
and they worked really really hard, and so they just
had a grand reopening and to support them would be
(13:15):
huge because they supported the community during this time period
and they work. I'm talking about it's sisters, it's moms,
it's a whole family that have have tiresly worked through
this whole time period for the last six months and
they just reopened, so visiting places like fair Oakesburger. There's
(13:38):
also business businesses that you know, were so small that
they wouldn't even be seen, like Yardbird Chicken and they
would do chicken strips and to support them, they lost
their location which was on Lake and now they're on Lincoln. Yes,
(14:03):
And it's those local businesses like that grocery outlet, the
store for people to still go to the local store
that still exists and they have been a hub also.
But the smaller businesses, like I said, like Yardbird Chicken
and and far Oksburger. And there's another one I'm trying
(14:25):
to get the name off the top of my head.
It's a brother who sells cookies with the Yardbird. His
name is Devin. He sells cookies along with that and desserts.
But to basically patronize these people and these local businesses
in our community because they're still there and they're still
(14:49):
trying to survive. There's another one, the two ten Taco truck,
which gave vegetarian chacos and options. That was was different. Also,
they're another local business that needs to be patronized. So
these are a few and important ones that need to
(15:12):
be held together. The other ones have actually lost their
businesses and you know, like the little Red hen which
we need them to come back. And that's that's family
and you know we're all connected.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And they've been around for a long time.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Yes, and they've been a pillar in the community so well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's a very very special community. And from the age
of the homes to what you talked about, generational wealth
or having something passed on like a home is huge
and the neighborhood still has so much more mending to do.
(15:54):
We appreciate you, Zaire Calvin, for coming on the program.
Continue to do what you do and you send us
anything like uh it, you know there's places you couldn't remember.
Whatever you want us to give shout outs, you just
send it to Kayla and we'll make sure that we're
given love to these places. Absolutely to make sure that
(16:15):
people know where to go and experience. But get out there.
You can go dout to Dina. You can drive around.
You can see the places that are open. If you're
looking for gift shops, if you're looking for food, check
and see if these places are open. It's you know,
not only it's the foothills or and those areas are
beautiful in their own right, but to be able to
(16:35):
keep them alive during this I'm sorry for your loss,
not not only your your home of course, but more
importantly your sister in the eat and fire, and it
just I don't know, even though we were all affixed
to radio and television and our phones, I don't know
unless you live there that you'll will ever really know
(17:00):
the loss. But people like you speaking up is at
least a start in helping us understand that. So thanks
for taking the time today. We appreciate you, and I.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Want to thank you guys for being a platform and
a voice for us, because without you, our voices are
not heard. So you are a blessing and know that
it means everything. So the work you're doing, even though
you guys are you know in the radio waves, as
we say, it means everything to us and for us
to be heard. So I want to give that shout
(17:31):
out and Thanks to you guys, and please continue to
do what you're doing and don't change because we have
a long road but a short road ahead and we
need your support now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
We're here for it. Kayla Producer, Kayla and Tiffany Hobbs
and I have talked about this that we will continue
to find ways to get folks like you on to
make sure that it doesn't get you know, shuffled aside
or the next whatever craziness goes on that takes our
eyes and ears in the news. So just know that
Kayla's looking out all the time finding people like you,
(18:04):
and we will make sure that we get you on
the air. God bless you. We will keep you in
our prayers for sure and do everything we can on
the air. We'll be back with more. Thanks Coach, we
appreciate you. Go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Sevadra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Thanks for hanging out today. I'd love to remind you
that if you haven't yet, rsvped for my birthday party
a week from today. That seems ridiculous to say, quite honestly,
but it's just an excuse for us to get together.
I did one many years ago uh in Orange County,
and we had such a good time. People have been
(18:45):
asking when you're going to do one again, and just
it hasn't worked out. I'm usually gone around my birthday.
I was this year as well, so we moved it
to August ninth, the week from today. We're doing it
at Desconso Restaurant in Los Angeles. They have one in
Orange County, but we're going to be at the one
in Los Angeles. It is on Wilshrip Boulevard, right next
to the Librea tar Pits very easy to find, great place,
(19:09):
really lovely and I'd love you to meet them, and
I'd love them to meet you, and I'd love to
shake your hand and say hello. Very easy.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
We'll be there for the show two to five and
then from five to seven, Tiffany Hobbs is going to broadcast.
So it's going to be a good time, a lot
of fun. They'll be drink specials, complementary apps. We'll just
have great food, conversation, VIP access area and the what
you need to do is simple. You send an email
(19:38):
to r s VP at Disconso Restaurant dot com. That's
d s C a n s O restaurant dot com.
So send an email to RSVP at Disconso Restaurant dot com.
You provide your full name and a number guests up
(20:00):
to three. If you have four or some situation like that,
let us know. We'll do what we can. We have
limited space and it is filling up quickly, so please
take advantage of that. We'd love to have you out there.
I'll have some fork Report swag as well, very quickly.
Based on our last conversation. This is really cool. You've
got a group of people that have put together. These
(20:22):
are a bunch of footies and things like that that
have put together the Altadena Restaurant Call Crawl. And this
is super easy to fit find out. You just go
to meet up, meetup dot com slash Alta Dina Restaurant
Call that's where you go crawl rather Altadena Restaurant Crawl.
(20:43):
And they've got twenty restaurants they're going to visit over
twenty weeks and it's they have a bunch of events
coming up, including tomorrow the Altadena Restaurant Support Crawl. King's
Breakfasts and Burgers King's Breakfast and Burgers at Pasadena, California,
and they have more and more and more. They'll be
(21:06):
putting these together. You can click attend and go out there.
I just thought this is really cool for you to
know about meetup dot com slash Altadena Restaurant Crawl to
be a part of that, And I love that they're
they're putting stuff together and doing this, so something another
way for you to participate and think about the people
(21:28):
affected in the eating fire. All right, stick around, We've
got much more to come. There's so much going on.
I mean, there's some movie tie ins and TV show
tie ins to restaurants that we want to tell you about. Also,
an unfortunate loss in the food industry out here in
southern California. I've had his Burgers many times. We'll tell
(21:51):
you about that. So and a pan, oh my gosh,
a gorgeous pan that's three hundred dollars less than the
one it was designed at der that I got to
tell you about. All right, go nowhere, stick around, we'll
be back with moreland you've been listening to The Fork Report,
you can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty two to five pm on Saturday and anytime on
(22:13):
demand on the iHeartRadio app I am your well fed host,
Neil Savadra, how do you do? I hope you're doing
well on this lovely Saturday afternoon. Now it's been weird.
We get that haze coming in and then it gets
real hot. We were at Universal Studios yesterday. I was
with them. We went and saw Bad Guys Too, which
(22:34):
is adorbs balls. I liked the books. We read them
to our son Max, and we loved Bad Guys one
and so Bad Guys two came out and it's gorgeous.
I mean, just the animation is just beautiful and dynamic,
and I just like that. If you never saw Spider
(23:00):
Man into or into the Spider Verse, it's brilliant. It's
absolutely brilliant. But the dynamics and motion of the animation there,
I think has heightened animation across the board. What Sony
did with that and just gorgeous. So I love the
(23:20):
new kind of energy and attitude of animation these days.
But we went there, had a blast and was out
at Universal walking eating and enjoying ourselves, and it was
just it was like eighty eight degrees out. You know,
on City Walk they've got those fountains. We were running
through those like idiots and getting water and places you
probably shouldn't have water shoot up at. But it was
(23:42):
good fun out there. So it's it's nice to get
up and out in lovely southern California. I hope you're
doing the same if you're looking for a reason to
go to Costco, and who doesn't look for a reason
to go to Costco. La Cruse is gorgeous cookware. It's
just stunning. It's the top of the top. It is
(24:04):
this enameled cast iron, beautifully colored and put together. I mean,
it is the pinnacle. And I'm lucky enough to have
some pieces of it myself. Some were gifts we bought ourselves.
But it just is lovely. But it's expensive, I mean
prohibitively expensive to many of us. So there's a couple
(24:29):
of things you can do. You can go out to Cabazon,
you go out to Marongo and get your Marongo on
Casino resort and spawn and go hang out there. And
right next door you can go check out their cast
iron at their discount place there, and that's great and
I've done that many many times. Or you can find
(24:53):
knockoffs and some are better than others, obviously, but I
got to tell you. Costco has one and it is gorgeous.
So the Lake Cruse signature enamel cast iron deep sautee
pan is three hundred and sixty eight dollars. That's the
(25:14):
pan in the lid. That's an expensive pan. It's gonna
last you forever. It'll be passed down generations of generation
to generation. But check this out. Costco has one that's
very similar, and it's it's screams chefy, it's beautiful, it's
(25:37):
solid and weighty and got that gorgeous enamel. The difference is, well,
the shape is slightly different, but the real difference is
that you're looking at maybe five colored choices or something.
It's a twelve inch pan. It's safe, even safe of
the four hundred and fifty degrees. All that stuff is great.
(26:04):
Whereas I think if you go with the like crusee,
there's probably a couple dozen colors. But this one sells
for fifty four ninety nine at Costco also has a lid. Right, Uh,
it cleans easy, you know, it just has all that stuff.
(26:28):
Now it comes again in just a couple of colors white, gray,
blue and green. But what more do you need? I mean,
we have red and we have blue. I have a
couple of different colors here, but you know, you go
to william Sonoma, that's three hundred and sixty eight bucks,
and God bless Williams Sonoma. I love there. Are you kidding?
You go walk through there and it's a it's you know,
(26:50):
a kid in a candy store there for those of
us that like to cook. But what a fine. So
I just wanted to tell you about that because I
don't know how long these are going to be out.
You know, I'll tell you they are gonna, you know,
go like this. I said, a couple dozen colors. I was,
you know, being hyperbolic. La Crusae probably has about ten
(27:12):
to a dozen colors. I mean, there's a difference in
the amount of colors you can get. But if you're
okay with just those those four colors, then you're good
to go. And you're just not gonna beat a price
like that to get something that is normally over three
hundred dollars to get. Albeit a knockoff, it's a beautiful knockoff.
And Costco just does these things right. This one sells
(27:34):
for fifty four ninety nine. We can all afford that, right,
and it really is a stunner and cast iron is
just one of those things that are long lasting. They're heavy,
they are obviously, you know, wonderful to use the They
heat evenly once they get up to temperature, and you
(27:56):
can use them in different places. I'm not saying you
should do that, especially on the lighter colors, but I
use mine on the outdoor grill too. I just think
they work really well. Now keep in mind, you don't
want them over you don't want them high high heat.
You know, four hundred and fifty degrees. They're going to
be fine in the oven. But just a great deal. Indeed,
(28:19):
and I know that many of you are looking for
those types of things, so check that out, all right.
Another reminder that next week we're going to be celebrating
my birthday sort of. I mean really it's an excuse
to get together and have a live broadcast and hang out.
So August night, a week from today, we will be
at Disconso restaurant, not the one in Orange County, the
(28:40):
one in LA their second location out here in Los Angeles.
It's on Wilshire. It is right next to the labreat
tarpits there right over there, and it's going to be
a great afternoon two to five, we'll you know, have
complimentary apps and there will be drink specials and food
specials and things like that. And then five to seven,
(29:02):
my friend Tiffany Hobbs is going to be broadcasting live,
so she's going to be out there as well. It's
gonna be great. So for VIP access, you're gonna be
one of my guests. I need you to r s VP.
So you email to R s v P at Disconso
Restaurant dot com. R s v P at d E
(29:24):
s c A n s O Restaurant dot com. Provide
your full name and number of guests up to three.
If you have a larger party than that, you know,
just ask say can I bring one more? It's going
to fill up quick. We're not taking over the whole restaurant.
We're just in a VIP area and I'm not even
(29:46):
sure where we're at right now, if we've filled up
or not. But I'd really love for you to come,
So please send that off to R s v P
at Disconso Restaurant dot com. Email there with your full
name and your guests and hopefully get you in because
it'll be a really good time. We haven't done this
in years and years and years and years and years,
(30:08):
and I'd love to meet you. Now we'll have some
forkport swag that will find some way to give out
all kinds of fun, So stick around. We'll be back
with more. So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You're listening to kfi EM six
forty the four Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
How do you Do? Heard every Saturday from two to
five and every Monday through Friday six am to nine am.
Hanging out with Handle the Voice of Reason, trying to
keep that boat from tipping over. But it's it's a
(00:22):
job I'm willing to do for you. But we get
to celebrate food every Saturday for three hours and then
we hand things off to my friend Tiffany Hobbs, who's
also going to be joining us at our live remote
next week from a week from today that we'll be
telling you more about coming up later, so stick around
(00:43):
for that, all right. The fires in January, we're six
months out and a lot, sadly has not been done.
Too much still needs to be done, and businesses are struggling.
People are struggling. No matter what you hear out of
any Poul Petitician's mouth or anybody saying otherwise, there is
(01:04):
a lot to be done. And the best part of
a real community like Altadena is that they come together.
And in this particular case, we have someone here, Zayer Calvin,
who is with us. He's the owner of Extreme with
an ex athletics community leader, you know, advocate for a
rebuilding for justice in the Altadena area. They refer to
(01:27):
him as Coach Z and he is the unofficial Altadena
mayor zaire. Welcome to the Fork Report. Do we have
him with us?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Do you hear me clearly? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
There you go? There you go, yes, I can. Thanks
for joining us today. Now, not only did and correct
me if I'm wrong here, not only did you lose
your home, but did you lose a family member as well?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes? I lost my first there.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I can't even imagine. I mean, with all with it,
let's just say it how it is. There was a
lot of issues that it could be. It sucks to
look backwards on this could have prevented you know this,
and so you know, life and death happens. We all
(02:36):
know that. Some of the first lessons we learn is
that you know, our time is limited. But man, when
you look back on something like this, and I know
you do and are like, you know, it's got to
be frustrating. And is I'm assuming that's the fuel that
pushes you forward on what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You hear it, I don't know, you know, it's all
it pain a purpose or pain the power at this point,
and you're just fighting for for your whole community and
everybody to have a chance to come back and have
some type of normalcy.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
You know. I was taught many years ago that when
people experience intense pain that they either go to the
hero or villain state. They either become a villain and
say I want everybody to feel the pain that I felt,
or they go the hero route and say I don't
(03:39):
want anybody to feel the pain that I felt. And
I'm proud to hear when someone like you, Zaia takes
it upon themselves to be a leader in your area. So,
in the Altadena area, what are you doing, what are
you working towards? How can listeners help or participate in
(04:02):
in what you're doing as well?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, I was able to put together a plan with
the community, and when I say, I speak for the
community and the thousands in Altadena, we're able to put
together a plan out in the native rebuild where we're
able to build back together is the plan and to
be able to fool our resources so we can lower
(04:27):
cost and avoid the predatory things that are going to
happen with construction that's coming up, because that's the next
stage that people aren't talking about, is how predatory construction is.
And I've met with everyone from the Woesy Fire, the
Coffee fire, the Lahaina fires, and different and all the
other fires that I did not mention. I think all
(04:48):
the people who who've been sitting down and teaching through
this whole six months to give me a crash course
on what to do with the good thing that came
out of their experiences and then the bad things where
they weren't able to rebuild, and for us to have
a different plan of action with leadership and with a
(05:13):
voice that is pushing that leadership.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Talking with us right now. As my guest Yer Calvin,
referred to as Coach Z also known as the unofficial
Altadena Mayor. He's a community leader, coach trying to get
things done in Altadena. You know, there's a you know
something called writer's block, and of course artists block, and
that's when you're staring at a either a blank canvas
(05:40):
or a blank page and trying to, you know, put
things together for the first time. I can't imagine in
a place where you had lives, mature lives, generational lives.
And then it's now a blank canvas. What as someone
who lost their not openly their home, but your sister,
(06:03):
that canvas isn't blank, it's got years on it. But
where where do you even start? Was there someone that
came around and said these are the first things you
need to do? Or have you become that person?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Honestly, I think I've become that person because a lot
of this is unpresident. So the first call to action
was addressed in the African American community who's always disproportionately
taken advantage of through tragedies and through mishats. So the
(06:38):
first call to action was for their voice to be heard,
our voice to be heard as African American community, to
know that they get marginalized and we get taken advantage of.
That was the first step was to put that called
action so we would be seen. Then the next step
was for the whole community, because I love my whole community.
(07:03):
My Jewish neighbor is Asian, every single race, Hispanic, it's
my whole community and we're all family. So the next
call to action was just to make sure that the
whole community as a whole gets all the resources and
is being seen through this whole tragedy. Also because there's
(07:25):
so much loss, and anybody who hasn't been through a fire,
they don't know the pain. Like right now, Christmas and
Thanksgiving and all these holidays are coming up, what you're
going to be the most painful time because you lost
the security of your home. I've experienced death before, even
my brother being murdered. This type of chain and being
(07:50):
being disconnected to where you usually heal. Your home is
where you heal. It's where you go to to rejuvenate,
to recleinish to do, to go through pain. Home is
where you go to to mourn. Now all these places
are gone. And even with the safe spaces that you
(08:12):
had to leave to your neighbors and to your friends,
and to your cousin's house that we're in the neighborhood,
they're all gone. So it is a different type of
pain that I try to get the world to understand
of a hard working, bootstrapping collective people who are doctors, lawyers,
(08:33):
and every other type of people who have worked really
hard and don't want to lose this generational wealth for
the Black community and don't want to lose the community
for the overall community of a black community that includes
all races.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
That's the voice of Zaier Calvin you're hearing. He is
a community leader who's advocating for the justice and rebuilding
in Alta Dina right now. They refer to them a
love Lee as coach Z as well. When we come back,
we'll talk about, you know, the next steps there because
not everything was lost for everybody, which doesn't really isn't
(09:14):
really a comfort because you've got a community still limping along,
the small mom and pop shops, the restaurants, these types
of things. We'll talk more about that when we return.
So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We basically celebrate food every Saturday for three hours here
on KFI two to five and celebrate the people that
make it, the culture behind it. You know, it's community
driven when you think that we are the ones that
go out and support you know, mom and pop places.
I've said this many times on the program. One of
(09:52):
the reasons why we started the show over well over
a decade ago was to remind you that the economy
locally rises and falls on hospitality, I'm going out to
eat and supporting local businesses. It just does and that
that's part of what we talk about. And we had
(10:13):
some devastation, to say the very least in January with
the fires that took place in Altadena and in the Palisades.
And right now we're talking with Zaier Calvin. He's the
owner of Extreme Athletics with an ex Extreme Athletics. He's
a community leader, advocate for justice and rebuilding in Altadena.
(10:37):
They refer to him as Coach Z. Before we got
some news there, Zaire, we were talking about the community there,
whether it's you know, systemic racism, whether it is you know,
voices not being heard because they don't you know, minority
(10:58):
voice is not getting this same attention. Whatever it might be,
it is where we are unfortunately, and to make sure
that there is a voice. This is one of the
reasons why you're with us today. The message you want
to get out is that there's a lot to be done.
It sounds like there isn't one single place outside of
(11:20):
people like you getting people focused. I mean, you think
there was like a kit or something where local you know,
politicians come and say, okay, this is first steps because
part of Altadena is still standing, but it's a ghost
(11:42):
town in the other sense, and people can't you know,
all those regulars at restaurants, at mom and pop places,
at grocery stores, they're not there anymore. And the people
that are there are like, well, things aren't the same yet.
So what could we the people surrounding you in other
(12:02):
neighborhoods do, How do we help? What do you need
from us?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yes, supporting the local restaurants that have gone through all
of this devastation, there was the biggest one who supported
the whole community through this whole time period would be Farroksburger.
They literally and their story, which is very interesting, is
(12:28):
because the owners of Farroksburger actually live on My Street
and they did this through their heart and passion while
they lost everything. Also, so they it's not like they
weren't in the community. They actually live on my Street.
They lost everything, and through this they showed their pain
(12:52):
and power and was given back to the whole community
during this whole time and staying open since their business
you know, survived and they were literally donating their time
and they worked really really hard, and so they just
had a grand reopening and to support them would be
(13:15):
huge because they supported the community during this time period
and they work. I'm talking about it's sisters, it's moms,
it's a whole family that have have tiresly worked through
this whole time period for the last six months and
they just reopened, so visiting places like fair Oakesburger. There's
(13:38):
also business businesses that you know, were so small that
they wouldn't even be seen, like Yardbird Chicken and they
would do chicken strips and to support them, they lost
their location which was on Lake and now they're on Lincoln. Yes,
(14:03):
And it's those local businesses like that grocery outlet, the
store for people to still go to the local store
that still exists and they have been a hub also.
But the smaller businesses, like I said, like Yardbird Chicken
and and far Oksburger. And there's another one I'm trying
(14:25):
to get the name off the top of my head.
It's a brother who sells cookies with the Yardbird. His
name is Devin. He sells cookies along with that and desserts.
But to basically patronize these people and these local businesses
in our community because they're still there and they're still
(14:49):
trying to survive. There's another one, the two ten Taco truck,
which gave vegetarian chacos and options. That was was different. Also,
they're another local business that needs to be patronized. So
these are a few and important ones that need to
(15:12):
be held together. The other ones have actually lost their
businesses and you know, like the little Red hen which
we need them to come back. And that's that's family
and you know we're all connected.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And they've been around for a long time.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Yes, and they've been a pillar in the community so well.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's a very very special community. And from the age
of the homes to what you talked about, generational wealth
or having something passed on like a home is huge
and the neighborhood still has so much more mending to do.
(15:54):
We appreciate you, Zaire Calvin, for coming on the program.
Continue to do what you do and you send us
anything like uh it, you know there's places you couldn't remember.
Whatever you want us to give shout outs, you just
send it to Kayla and we'll make sure that we're
given love to these places. Absolutely to make sure that
(16:15):
people know where to go and experience. But get out there.
You can go dout to Dina. You can drive around.
You can see the places that are open. If you're
looking for gift shops, if you're looking for food, check
and see if these places are open. It's you know,
not only it's the foothills or and those areas are
beautiful in their own right, but to be able to
(16:35):
keep them alive during this I'm sorry for your loss,
not not only your your home of course, but more
importantly your sister in the eat and fire, and it
just I don't know, even though we were all affixed
to radio and television and our phones, I don't know
unless you live there that you'll will ever really know
(17:00):
the loss. But people like you speaking up is at
least a start in helping us understand that. So thanks
for taking the time today. We appreciate you, and I.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Want to thank you guys for being a platform and
a voice for us, because without you, our voices are
not heard. So you are a blessing and know that
it means everything. So the work you're doing, even though
you guys are you know in the radio waves, as
we say, it means everything to us and for us
to be heard. So I want to give that shout
(17:31):
out and Thanks to you guys, and please continue to
do what you're doing and don't change because we have
a long road but a short road ahead and we
need your support now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
We're here for it. Kayla Producer, Kayla and Tiffany Hobbs
and I have talked about this that we will continue
to find ways to get folks like you on to
make sure that it doesn't get you know, shuffled aside
or the next whatever craziness goes on that takes our
eyes and ears in the news. So just know that
Kayla's looking out all the time finding people like you,
(18:04):
and we will make sure that we get you on
the air. God bless you. We will keep you in
our prayers for sure and do everything we can on
the air. We'll be back with more. Thanks Coach, we
appreciate you. Go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Sevadra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Thanks for hanging out today. I'd love to remind you
that if you haven't yet, rsvped for my birthday party
a week from today. That seems ridiculous to say, quite honestly,
but it's just an excuse for us to get together.
I did one many years ago uh in Orange County,
and we had such a good time. People have been
(18:45):
asking when you're going to do one again, and just
it hasn't worked out. I'm usually gone around my birthday.
I was this year as well, so we moved it
to August ninth, the week from today. We're doing it
at Desconso Restaurant in Los Angeles. They have one in
Orange County, but we're going to be at the one
in Los Angeles. It is on Wilshrip Boulevard, right next
to the Librea tar Pits very easy to find, great place,
(19:09):
really lovely and I'd love you to meet them, and
I'd love them to meet you, and I'd love to
shake your hand and say hello. Very easy.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
We'll be there for the show two to five and
then from five to seven, Tiffany Hobbs is going to broadcast.
So it's going to be a good time, a lot
of fun. They'll be drink specials, complementary apps. We'll just
have great food, conversation, VIP access area and the what
you need to do is simple. You send an email
(19:38):
to r s VP at Disconso Restaurant dot com. That's
d s C a n s O restaurant dot com.
So send an email to RSVP at Disconso Restaurant dot com.
You provide your full name and a number guests up
(20:00):
to three. If you have four or some situation like that,
let us know. We'll do what we can. We have
limited space and it is filling up quickly, so please
take advantage of that. We'd love to have you out there.
I'll have some fork Report swag as well, very quickly.
Based on our last conversation. This is really cool. You've
got a group of people that have put together. These
(20:22):
are a bunch of footies and things like that that
have put together the Altadena Restaurant Call Crawl. And this
is super easy to fit find out. You just go
to meet up, meetup dot com slash Alta Dina Restaurant
Call that's where you go crawl rather Altadena Restaurant Crawl.
(20:43):
And they've got twenty restaurants they're going to visit over
twenty weeks and it's they have a bunch of events
coming up, including tomorrow the Altadena Restaurant Support Crawl. King's
Breakfasts and Burgers King's Breakfast and Burgers at Pasadena, California,
and they have more and more and more. They'll be
(21:06):
putting these together. You can click attend and go out there.
I just thought this is really cool for you to
know about meetup dot com slash Altadena Restaurant Crawl to
be a part of that, And I love that they're
they're putting stuff together and doing this, so something another
way for you to participate and think about the people
(21:28):
affected in the eating fire. All right, stick around, We've
got much more to come. There's so much going on.
I mean, there's some movie tie ins and TV show
tie ins to restaurants that we want to tell you about. Also,
an unfortunate loss in the food industry out here in
southern California. I've had his Burgers many times. We'll tell
(21:51):
you about that. So and a pan, oh my gosh,
a gorgeous pan that's three hundred dollars less than the
one it was designed at der that I got to
tell you about. All right, go nowhere, stick around, we'll
be back with moreland you've been listening to The Fork Report,
you can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty two to five pm on Saturday and anytime on
(22:13):
demand on the iHeartRadio app I am your well fed host,
Neil Savadra, how do you do? I hope you're doing
well on this lovely Saturday afternoon. Now it's been weird.
We get that haze coming in and then it gets
real hot. We were at Universal Studios yesterday. I was
with them. We went and saw Bad Guys Too, which
(22:34):
is adorbs balls. I liked the books. We read them
to our son Max, and we loved Bad Guys one
and so Bad Guys two came out and it's gorgeous.
I mean, just the animation is just beautiful and dynamic,
and I just like that. If you never saw Spider
(23:00):
Man into or into the Spider Verse, it's brilliant. It's
absolutely brilliant. But the dynamics and motion of the animation there,
I think has heightened animation across the board. What Sony
did with that and just gorgeous. So I love the
(23:20):
new kind of energy and attitude of animation these days.
But we went there, had a blast and was out
at Universal walking eating and enjoying ourselves, and it was
just it was like eighty eight degrees out. You know,
on City Walk they've got those fountains. We were running
through those like idiots and getting water and places you
probably shouldn't have water shoot up at. But it was
(23:42):
good fun out there. So it's it's nice to get
up and out in lovely southern California. I hope you're
doing the same if you're looking for a reason to
go to Costco, and who doesn't look for a reason
to go to Costco. La Cruse is gorgeous cookware. It's
just stunning. It's the top of the top. It is
(24:04):
this enameled cast iron, beautifully colored and put together. I mean,
it is the pinnacle. And I'm lucky enough to have
some pieces of it myself. Some were gifts we bought ourselves.
But it just is lovely. But it's expensive, I mean
prohibitively expensive to many of us. So there's a couple
(24:29):
of things you can do. You can go out to Cabazon,
you go out to Marongo and get your Marongo on
Casino resort and spawn and go hang out there. And
right next door you can go check out their cast
iron at their discount place there, and that's great and
I've done that many many times. Or you can find
(24:53):
knockoffs and some are better than others, obviously, but I
got to tell you. Costco has one and it is gorgeous.
So the Lake Cruse signature enamel cast iron deep sautee
pan is three hundred and sixty eight dollars. That's the
(25:14):
pan in the lid. That's an expensive pan. It's gonna
last you forever. It'll be passed down generations of generation
to generation. But check this out. Costco has one that's
very similar, and it's it's screams chefy, it's beautiful, it's
(25:37):
solid and weighty and got that gorgeous enamel. The difference is, well,
the shape is slightly different, but the real difference is
that you're looking at maybe five colored choices or something.
It's a twelve inch pan. It's safe, even safe of
the four hundred and fifty degrees. All that stuff is great.
(26:04):
Whereas I think if you go with the like crusee,
there's probably a couple dozen colors. But this one sells
for fifty four ninety nine at Costco also has a lid. Right, Uh,
it cleans easy, you know, it just has all that stuff.
(26:28):
Now it comes again in just a couple of colors white, gray,
blue and green. But what more do you need? I mean,
we have red and we have blue. I have a
couple of different colors here, but you know, you go
to william Sonoma, that's three hundred and sixty eight bucks,
and God bless Williams Sonoma. I love there. Are you kidding?
You go walk through there and it's a it's you know,
(26:50):
a kid in a candy store there for those of
us that like to cook. But what a fine. So
I just wanted to tell you about that because I
don't know how long these are going to be out.
You know, I'll tell you they are gonna, you know,
go like this. I said, a couple dozen colors. I was,
you know, being hyperbolic. La Crusae probably has about ten
(27:12):
to a dozen colors. I mean, there's a difference in
the amount of colors you can get. But if you're
okay with just those those four colors, then you're good
to go. And you're just not gonna beat a price
like that to get something that is normally over three
hundred dollars to get. Albeit a knockoff, it's a beautiful knockoff.
And Costco just does these things right. This one sells
(27:34):
for fifty four ninety nine. We can all afford that, right,
and it really is a stunner and cast iron is
just one of those things that are long lasting. They're heavy,
they are obviously, you know, wonderful to use the They
heat evenly once they get up to temperature, and you
(27:56):
can use them in different places. I'm not saying you
should do that, especially on the lighter colors, but I
use mine on the outdoor grill too. I just think
they work really well. Now keep in mind, you don't
want them over you don't want them high high heat.
You know, four hundred and fifty degrees. They're going to
be fine in the oven. But just a great deal. Indeed,
(28:19):
and I know that many of you are looking for
those types of things, so check that out, all right.
Another reminder that next week we're going to be celebrating
my birthday sort of. I mean really it's an excuse
to get together and have a live broadcast and hang out.
So August night, a week from today, we will be
at Disconso restaurant, not the one in Orange County, the
(28:40):
one in LA their second location out here in Los Angeles.
It's on Wilshire. It is right next to the labreat
tarpits there right over there, and it's going to be
a great afternoon two to five, we'll you know, have
complimentary apps and there will be drink specials and food
specials and things like that. And then five to seven,
(29:02):
my friend Tiffany Hobbs is going to be broadcasting live,
so she's going to be out there as well. It's
gonna be great. So for VIP access, you're gonna be
one of my guests. I need you to r s VP.
So you email to R s v P at Disconso
Restaurant dot com. R s v P at d E
(29:24):
s c A n s O Restaurant dot com. Provide
your full name and number of guests up to three.
If you have a larger party than that, you know,
just ask say can I bring one more? It's going
to fill up quick. We're not taking over the whole restaurant.
We're just in a VIP area and I'm not even
(29:46):
sure where we're at right now, if we've filled up
or not. But I'd really love for you to come,
So please send that off to R s v P
at Disconso Restaurant dot com. Email there with your full
name and your guests and hopefully get you in because
it'll be a really good time. We haven't done this
in years and years and years and years and years,
(30:08):
and I'd love to meet you. Now we'll have some
forkport swag that will find some way to give out
all kinds of fun, So stick around. We'll be back
with more. So go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty
The Fork Report w Neil Saavedra News
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